KARACHI:
It has now been a couple of months since the SBP raised its policy rate to 15%. However there has been no corresponding increase in the profit rates of various saving schemes offered by the Central Directorate of National Savings. Even the best schemes offered by National Savings such as the Pensioners Benefit Account and Behbood Savings Certificates are currently offering a profit rate of 14.16% which is roughly 1% less than the SBP mark-up rate. This is quite unusual since the basic purpose behind the creation of National Savings was to offer a return on savings better than the prevailing mark-up rate to the underprivileged segments of society such as pensioners, senior citizens, widows etc. Even some of the normal commercial banks are now offering profit rates of more than 15% to their customers on some of their saving schemes. Can the concerned authorities shed some light on this discrepancy for keeping the depositors of National Savings deprived in these days of extraordinary inflation?
Fuad Enver
Islamabad
Published in The Express Tribune, September 22nd, 2022.
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